Methods, apparatus and systems for monitoring locations of data within a network service

A system to monitor data set locations, comprising:

• a first registered network service element including a hardware-based cryptographic module and a storage element;
• a second registered network service element including a hardware-based cryptographic module and a storage element;
• a registration module to affirm that the first registered network service element is registered with the registration module and to affirm that the second registered network service element is registered with the registration module;
• and
• a location registry to store a first location record associated with storage of a data set at the storage element of the first registered network service element and to store a second location record associated with storage of the data set at the storage element of the second registered network service element, the first location record uniquely associated with the hardware-based cryptographic module of the first network service element, the second location record uniquely associated with the hardware-based cryptographic module of the second network service element.

A method of reporting location information associated with data set storage at network service elements within a network service, comprising:

• accessing a first location record associated with a data set, the first location record uniquely identifying the data set and a first network service element operable to store the data set at a first time;
• accessing a second location record associated with the data set, the second location record uniquely identifying the data set and a second network service element operable to store the data set at a second time after the first time;
• and
• generating a location register including the first location record and the second location record.